September 14, 2010

Ode to Summer . . .

Summer to me means warm weather, cool homemade lemonade, and SMORES! What better way to celebrate a great summer than making Smores cupcakes. This was my first attempt at this recipe and they are sinfully good! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Dark Chocolate Cocoa powder or I prefer Sharffen Berger's
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup crushed graham crackers

Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups. 
  • Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl
  • Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes
  • Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin)
  • Sprinkle crushed graham cracker into the bottom of each of the lined muffin cups
  • Fill cups 2/3 full with batter
  • Bake 22 to 25 minutes
  • Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
Makes 30 cupcakes

Marshmallow Buttercream Icing:
1 cup butter, softened
1 7-oz jar Marshmallow Fluff
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
  • In a large bowl, combine butter and Marshmallow Fluff. Beat until smooth and creamy.
  • Reduce speed and slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Beat the mixture until soft and fluffy.
Notes:
Garnish cupcakes with broken pieces of graham cracker and bite size chocolate pieces

Happy Baking!

Lemon Raspberry Surprise

Lemon has always been on my top 5 favorite flavors. I think I get that from my Mom. She got me started on my love of everything lemon. It doesn't matter if it's pie, cake, cookies, you name it if it's lemon I love it. So I thought I would share a recipe I recently tried that was a HUGE hit with my co-workers and friends.

Lemon Cupcakes:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. 
  • In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.
  • Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon peel and vanilla; mix well.
  • Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick).
  • Fill paper-lined muffin cups with 1/4 cup of batter.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
  • Cool for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Raspberry Puree:
1 – 12 oz bags of frozen raspberries
½ cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
·         Thaw the raspberries in large fine meshed strainer suspended over a large bowl. (This may take a while)
·         Once berries have completely thawed, force the juice from the berries by gently pressing the berries with the back of a large spoon. All that should remain in the strainer is the raspberry seeds.
·         Throw away the seeds. Stir in the lemon juice and sugar to the remaining raspberry pulp. (For extra flavor you may add a little raspberry liquor)
Store covered in the refrigerator up to a week, or freeze up to a year.

Makes approximately 1 3/4 cups

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 tbs lemon juice
4 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
8 to 10 cups confectioners' sugar
  • Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy
  • Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy
  • Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading or piping

 Assembly:
  • Once your cupcakes are completely cooled scoop a small section from the center of the cupcake. If you have a cupcake corer - great - if not you can use an apple corer, melon baller, or just a spoon
  • Fill hollowed out portion of your cupcake with raspberry puree. Be sure not to over fill or this will make icing your cupcakes difficult and messy
  • Spread or pipe your desired amount of lemon cream cheese icing onto the cupcake
  • If available, garnish with a fresh raspberry and/or sugared lemon peel
Happy Baking!

September 7, 2010

Comfort Food 101

One of my favorite comfort foods is chicken and dumplings. I don't know why but somehow I always feel better about the world after a nice warm bowl of chicken and dumplings. So since we are getting ready to start Fall I thought I would share an easy and delicious recipe.

Quick Chicken and Dumplings
4 cups water
3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I just buy one of those great pre-made roast chickens from the store)
2 (10 3/4 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
4 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp. pepper
1 (7.5 oz.) can refrigerated biscuits (this depends on what you like - I personally prefer to use Annie's brand frozen pre-made dumplings OR spaetzle - homemade German noodles)
  1. Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring often.
  2. Separate biscuits in half, forming rounds; cut each round in half. Drop biscuit pieces, 1 at a time, into boiling mixture; stir gently. Or if using frozen Annie's dumplings simply break into small pieces and add to mixture. 
  3. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes.
Notes:
If you would like to make the recipe lighter just use reduced sodium, reduced fat cream of chicken soup
If you would like to make this dish with spaetzle please use the following recipe:

Spaetzle
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 pinch of salt
water or milk to moisten - generally about 2 tbs. ( I prefer milk)
  1. Lightly whisk the egg and salt in a bowl.
  2. Slowly add flour and stir after each addition.
  3. Add water or milk and mix in.
  4. The batter should be gooey but not runny. If you add too much liquid simply add a little more flour to tighten up the mixture a bit.
  5. You now should have a "dough".
  6. Add dough to your chicken and dumpling mixture by placing  a bit of your dough on a cutting board (wood works best) and taking a large knife and cutting small pieces of dough off into the boiling mixture.
  7. Continue step 6 until you have used all of your dough and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
Makes 4 to 6 servings

About Me

My photo
I learned to cook mostly from my Mother but my German Grandmother had a big hand in my baking skills. I am a full time Nursing student and I work full time as well. That doesn't leave much free time generally but I make the most of it. I am the proud owner of two adorable Boston Terriers - Zoe and Radar. They keep me on my toes.